for more on what would be an historic change, i'm joined by james kitfield of the "national journal." what has been-- has this been in the works for a while, james. >> a couple of years inge within last year, they opened up 14,000 additional jobs. so they've been thinking about this. you know, wars are great levelers. anyone who spent time in iraq or afghanistan knows that women are on the tip of the spear. there are no front lines in these counter-insurgency wars. if you're a logistic battaon that hawomen in it, and during the iraq invasion there was one that got captured that had women in it. there was artillery battalions led by female colonels during the invasion. those artillery units ended up being foot patrols -- >> ifill: it sounds like you're saying this is a difference without a distinction. >> i'm saying wars have a way of making some of these distinctions meaningless. women have been in combat, quite honestly. and men have seen they can hold up their own, and women hoput their lives on the line, in some cases more than 100ave paid the ultimate sacrifice, women are not will